Why Was the 1983 Boston Marathon So Deep?

The 1983 Boston Marathon produced the fastest, deepest men’s results an American marathon has ever seen--this in a marathon 30 years before the current “second running boom.” In 1983, 84 mostly North American runners broke 2:20, and 263 bettered 2:28:30.

By comparison, in the super-fast 2011 Boston, where Geoffrey Mutai and Moses Mosop ran 2:03:02 and 2:03:06, respectively, only 22 runners broke 2:20 (and half were East Africans), and 68 runners beat 2:28:30.

What was in the air in 1983? Here, a handful of the 1983 Boston Marathon runners present their memories and thoughts.

Greg Meyer, 1st, 2:09:00In an interview published last week, Meyer said that he felt the weather was perfect ,with a slight tailwind over his shoulders. He also said it was a great advantage to have previous (bad) experience at Boston (1981) and to train regularly on the course with Coach Bill Squires and other members of the Greater Boston Track Club.

Benji Durden, 3rd, 2:09:57“There were many fit runners who came ready to race at Boston that year. Many of us were at our lifetime peaks, though we didn’t know it at the time. In that era, sub-2:15 marathoners were common, and even sub-2:11 wasn’t all that rare. The weather was good: a tailwind but not too strong; cool temperatures; and just a hint of rain. It was also the trials for the first world championships marathon, which added to our focus.”

Daniel Schlesinger, 8th, 2:11:36“I remember the day well, because my shoelaces came untied during the race, and I had to stop to retie them. In the process, I lost contact with the lead pack. As far as I can recall, the air was still--almost windless--and the temperature so conducive to good running that one didn’t even sense it or think about it. It was an atmosphere in which a runner could race undistracted. I remember my sense of disappointment that I covered 26 consecutive miles at 5:01 pace and still only placed eighth. How fast might I have run without the shoelace mishap? I’ll never know.”

Bill Rodgers, 10th, 2:11:58“Great weather is always the key, along with the racing experience. Look at the champions that year--Greg Meyer and Joan Benoit Samuelson. They were coming into their prime, and they both had prior Boston races. That’s a big factor: When you return to Boston, you run faster. You learn how to run the course. In 1983, Boston was a sort of trials race for the first world championships, and that made the competition even greater.”

Budd Coates, 14th, 2:13:02“I think the 1983 Boston is still somewhat a mystery, but a lot of it comes down to the fact that we were all just racing the distance and each other back then. Greg and Joan said it quite well in the two recent interviews. Greg said, ‘We trained to win.’ Joan said the best way to plan a race was to ‘just wait and see how the race unfolds.’ For me, winning wasn’t in the cards, but racing was. Plus, without mile split times on the course, we really did have to run by feel.”

Ralph Serna, 35th, 2:16:26“It seemed to me that in 1983 for the first time, the track was not the final destination of a runner’s career. The marathon became a new frontier. In 1983, a lot of runners like me who were still in their prime, and still focused primarily on the 5000 and 10,000, decided to give the marathon a try. So there was this sudden surge of speed demons racing the entire 26.2-mile distance. This meant that strategies changed, and times dropped en masse. The midrace surges became faster and faster since the first 50-70 runners felt comfortable at 5:00 [per mile] pace or under. Now, we couldn’t all sustain the pace, but we could hang on for a long time.

Tom Ratcliffe, 83rd, 2:19:51“The weather seemed perfect: cool and overcast with a westerly breeze. Also, at the time, Boston was a big deal for every serious runner. We were all drawn to Boston with the hope of achieving something significant. Many were training seriously, but most just believed they would run well at Boston--kind of a mystical lure/self-fulfilling prophecy. On that day, yes, the weather was great and thus the opportunity was there, but mainly the fast times came because of the large group of well-prepared athletes who believed they would run well … and did. Unfortunately, I wasn’t one of them. I went out in 66-ish and was running well until I reached the downside of Heartbreak, where I quickly fell apart. I had run a marathon in Auckland to qualify, but Boston was my first serious marathon, and I gained a lot of respect for the distance. It was the slowest of my serious marathons; my best was a 2:14 at the World Cup in Seoul.”

Ben Beach, 236th, 2:27:43"In 1983 the weather was very good, and I was still in my prime. That was the last of my four sub-2:30s at Boston. As you know, the field was very deep in those days. There's no other exciting explanation. I'll have to spend at least two more hours to get to Boston this year." (Note: Beach hopes to complete his 46th consecutive Boston on Monday, a Boston--and world?--record for a single-race marathon streak.)

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